Owner of Florida biofuel company to serve 18 months for $7M RIN fraud
In Florida, the owner of a company that produced and sold renewable fuel and fuel credits was sentenced to serve 18 months in prison followed by two years of supervised release, and to pay $2,857,029 in restitution and a $150,000 fine, for his role in a scheme that generated over $7 million in fraudulent Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) renewable fuel credits and sought over $6 million in fraudulent tax credits connected to the purported production of biodiesel.
According to court documents, Christopher Burdett owned a biofuel company based in Fort Pierce, Florida, that claimed to turn various feedstocks into biodiesel. However, when reporting the number of gallons they produced to the IRS and EPA, Burdett and General Manager Royce Gillham vastly overstated their production volume to generate more credits. When auditors sought more information from the company, Burdett and Gillham provided false information about their fuel production and customers.
Burdett previously pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit wire fraud and to file false claims. For his role in the scheme, Gillham was previously sentenced to 37 months in prison.
Category: Fuels
